P S A L M S

PSALM XVII.

David being in great distress and danger by the
malice of his enemies, does, in this psalm, by prayer address
himself to God, his tried refuge, and seeks shelter in him. I. He
appeals to God concerning his integrity, ver. 1-4. II. He prays to God still to be
upheld in his integrity and preserved from the malice of his
enemies, ver. 5-8, 13.
III. He gives a character of his enemies, using that as a plea with
God for his preservation, ver.
9-12, 14. IV. He comforts himself with the hopes of his
future happiness, ver. 15.
Some make him, in this, a type of Christ, who was perfectly
innocent, and yet was hated and persecuted, but, like David,
committed himself and his cause to him that judgeth
righteously.

Sincere and Importunate
Prayer.

A prayer of David.

1 Hear the right, O
Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that
goeth not out of feigned lips. 2 Let my sentence come
forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are
equal. 3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited
me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find
nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I
have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. 5 Hold
up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God:
incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. 7 show
thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand
them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up
against them.

This psalm is a prayer. As there is a time
to weep and a time to rejoice, so there is a time for praise and a
time for prayer. David was now persecuted, probably by Saul, who
hunted him like a partridge on the mountains; without were
fightings, within were fears, and both urged him as a suppliant to
the throne of mercy. He addresses himself to God in these verses
both by way of appeal (Hear the right, O Lord! let my
righteous cause have a hearing before thy tribunal, and give
judgment upon it) and by way of petition (Give ear unto my
prayer v. 1, and
again v. 6,
Incline thy ear unto me and hear my speech); not that God
needs to be thus pressed with our importunity, but he gives us
leave thus to express our earnest desire of his gracious answers to
our prayers. These things he pleads with God for audience, 1. That
he was sincere, and did not dissemble with God in his prayer: It
goeth not out of feigned lips. He meant as he spoke, and the
feelings of his mind agreed with the expressions of his mouth.
Feigned prayers are fruitless; but, if our hearts lead our prayers,
God will meet them with his favour. 2. That he had been used to
pray at other times, and it was not his distress and danger that
now first brought him to his duty: "I have called upon thee
formerly (v. 6);
therefore, Lord, hear me now." It will be a great comfort to us if
trouble, when it comes, find the wheels of prayer a-going, for then
we may come with the more boldness to the throne of grace.
Tradesmen are willing to oblige those that have been long their
customers. 3. That he was encouraged by his faith to expect God
would take notice of his prayers: "I know thou wilt hear me,
and therefore, O God, incline thy ear to me." Our believing
dependence upon God is a good plea to enforce our desires towards
him. Let us now see,

I. What his appeal is; and here
observe,

1. What the court is to the cognizance and
determination of which he makes his appeal; it is the court of
heaven. "Lord, do thou hear the right, for Saul is so passionate,
so prejudiced, that he will not hear it. Lord, let my sentence
come forth from thy presence, v. 2. Men sentence me to be pursued and
cut off as an evil-doer. Lord, I appeal from them to thee." This he
did in a public remonstrance before Saul's face (1 Sam. xxiv. 12, The Lord judge between
me and thee), and he repeats it here in his private devotions.
Note, (1.) The equity and extent of God's government and judgment
are a very great support to injured innocency. If we are blackened,
and abused, and misrepresented, by unrighteous men, it is a comfort
that we have a righteous God to go to, who will take our part, who
is the patron of the oppressed, whose judgment is according to
truth, by the discoveries of which every person and every cause
will appear in a true light, stripped of all false colours, and by
the decisions of which all unrighteous dooms will be reversed, and
to every man will be rendered according to his work. (2.) Sincerity
dreads no scrutiny, no, not that of God himself, according to the
tenour of the covenant of grace: Let thy eyes behold the things
that are equal. God's omniscience is as much the joy of the
upright as it is the terror of hypocrites, and is particularly
comfortable to those who are falsely accused and in any wise have
wrong done them.

2. What the evidence is by which he hopes
to make good his appeal; it is the trial God had made of him
(v. 3): Thou hast
proved my heart. God's sentence is therefore right,
because he always proceeds upon his knowledge, which is more
certain and infallible than that which men attain to by the closest
views and the strictest investigations.

(1.) He knew God had tried him, [1.] By his
own conscience, which is God's deputy in the soul. The spirit of
a man is the candle of the Lord, with this God had searched
him, and visited him in the night, when he communed with
his own heart upon his bed. He had submitted to the search, and
had seriously reviewed the actions of his life, to discover what
was amiss, but could find nothing of that which his enemies charged
him with. [2.] By providence. God had tried him by the fair
opportunity he had, once and again, to kill Saul; he had tried him
by the malice of Saul, the treachery of his friends, and the many
provocations that were given him; so that, if he had been the man
he was represented to be, it would have appeared; but, upon all
these trials, there was nothing found against him, no proof at all
of the things whereof they accused him.

(2.) God tried his heart, and could witness
to the integrity of that; but, for the further proof of his
integrity, he himself takes notice of two things concerning which
his conscience bore him record:—[1.] That he had a fixed
resolution against all sins of the tongue: "I have purposed
and fully determined, in the strength of God's grace, that my
mouth shall not transgress." He does not say, "I hope that it
will not," or, "I wish that it may not," but, "I have fully
purposed that it shall not:" with this bridle he kept his mouth,
Ps. xxxix. 1. Note, Constant
resolution and watchfulness against sins of the tongue will be a
good evidence of our integrity. If any offend not in word, the
same is a perfect man, Jam. iii.
2. He does not say, "My mouth never shall transgress"
(for in many things we all offend), but, "I have purposed that it
shall not;" and he that searches the heart knows whether the
purpose be sincere. [2.] That he had been as careful to refrain
from sinful actions as from sinful words (v. 4): "Concerning the common
works of men, the actions and affairs of human life, I
have, by the direction of thy word, kept myself from the
paths of the destroyer." Some understand it particularly, that
he had not been himself a destroyer of Saul, when it lay in his
power, nor had he permitted others to be so, but said to Abishai,
Destroy him not, 1 Sam. xxvi.
9. But it may be taken more generally; he kept himself
from all evil works, and endeavoured, according to the duty of his
place, to keep others from them too. Note, First, The ways
of sin are paths of the destroyer, of the devil, whose name is
Abaddon and Apollyon, a destroyer, who ruins souls by
decoying them into the paths of sin. Secondly, It concerns
us all to keep out of the paths of the destroyer; for, if we walk
in those ways that lead to destruction, we must thank ourselves if
destruction and misery be our portion at last. Thirdly, It
is by the word of God, as our guide and rule, that we must keep out
of the paths of the destroyer, by observing its directions and
admonitions, Ps. cxix. 9.
Fourthly, If we carefully avoid all the paths of sin, it
will be very comfortable in the reflection, when we are in trouble.
If we keep ourselves, that the wicked one touch us not with
his temptations (1 John v.
18), we may hope he will not be able to touch us with
his terrors.

II. What his petition is; it is, in short,
this, That he might experience the good work of God in him, as an
evidence of and qualification for the good will of God towards him:
this is grace and peace from God the Father. 1. He prays for the
work of God's grace in him (v.
5): "Hold up my going in thy paths. Lord, I have,
by thy grace, kept myself from the paths of the destroyer; by the
same grace let me be kept in thy paths; let me not only be
restrained from doing that which is evil, but quickened to abound
always in that which is good. Let my goings be held in thy paths,
that I may not turn back from them nor turn aside out of them; let
them be held up in thy paths, that I may not stumble and fall into
sin, that I may not trifle and neglect my duty. Lord, as thou hast
kept me hitherto, so keep me still." Those that are, through grace,
going in God's paths, have need to pray, and do pray, that their
goings may be held up in those paths; for we stand no longer than
he is pleased to hold us, we go no further than he is pleased to
lead us, bear us up, and carry us. David had been kept in the way
of his duty hitherto, and yet he does not think that this would be
his security for the future, and therefore prays, "Lord, still hold
me up." Those that would proceed and persevere in the way of God
must, by faith and prayer, fetch in daily fresh supplies of grace
and strength from him. David was sensible that his way was
slippery, that he himself was weak, and not so well fixed and
furnished as he should be, that there were those who watched for
his halting and would improve the least slip against him, and
therefore he prays, "Lord, hold me up, that my foot slip not, that
I may never say nor do any thing that looks either dishonest or
distrustful of thee and thy providence and promise." 2. He prays
for the tokens of God's favour to him, v. 7. Observe here, (1.) How he eyes
God as the protector and Saviour of his people, so he calls him,
and thence he takes his encouragement in prayer: O thou that
savest by thy right hand (by thy own power, and needest not the
agency of any other) those who put their trust in thee from
those that rise up against them. It is the character of God's
people that they trust in him; he is pleased to make them
confidants, for his secret is with the righteous; and they make him
their trust, for to him they commit themselves. Those that trust in
God have many enemies, many that rise up against them and seek
their ruin; but they have one friend that is able to deal with them
all, and, if he be for them, no matter who is against them. He
reckons it his honour to be their Saviour. His almighty power is
engaged for them, and they have all found him ready to save them.
The margin reads it, O thou that savest those who trust in thee
from those that rise up against thy right hand. Those that are
enemies to the saints are rebels against God and his right hand,
and therefore, no doubt, he will, in due time, appear against them.
(2.) What he expects and desires from God: Show thy marvellous
loving-kindness. The word signifies, [1.] Distinguishing
favours. "Set apart thy loving-kindnesses for me; put me not off
with common mercies, but be gracious to me, as thou usest to do
to those who love thy name." [2.] Wonderful favours. "O make
thy loving-kindness admirable! Lord, testify thy favour to me in
such a way that I and others may wonder at it." God's
loving-kindness is marvellous for the freeness and the fulness of
it; in some instances it appears, in a special manner, marvellous
(Ps. cxviii. 23), and it
will certainly appear so in the salvation of the saints, when
Christ shall come to be glorified in the saints and to be
admired in all those that believe.

Prayer for Protecting Mercy; Character of
David's Enemies.

8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under
the shadow of thy wings, 9 From the wicked that oppress me,
from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak
proudly. 11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they
have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; 12 Like as a
lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion
lurking in secret places. 13 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver
my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: 14 From
men which are thy hand, O
Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion
in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid
treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of
their substance to their babes. 15 As for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I
awake, with thy likeness.

We may observe, in these verses,

I. What David prays for. Being compassed
about with enemies that sought his life, he prays to God to
preserve him safely through all their attempts against him, to the
crown to which he was anointed. This prayer is both a prediction of
the preservation of Christ through all the hardships and
difficulties of his humiliation, to the glories and joys of his
exalted state, and a pattern to Christians to commit the keeping of
their souls to God, trusting him to preserve them to his
heavenly kingdom. He prays,

1. That he himself might be protected
(v. 8): "Keep me
safe, hide me close, where I may not be found, where I may not be
come at. Deliver my soul, not only my mortal life from death, but
my immortal spirit from sin." Those who put themselves under God's
protection may in faith implore the benefit of it.

(1.) He prays that God would keep him, [1.]
With as much care as a man keeps the apple of his eye with, which
nature has wonderfully fenced and teaches us to guard. If we keep
God's law as the apple of our eye (Prov. vii. 2), we may expect that God will so
keep us; for it is said concerning his people that whoso touches
them touches the apple of his eye, Zech. ii. 8. [2.] With as much tenderness as
the hen gathers her young ones under her wings with; Christ uses
the similitude, Matt. xxiii.
37. "Hide me under the shadow of thy wings, where
I may be both safe and warm." Or, perhaps, it rather alludes to the
wings of the cherubim shadowing the mercy-seat: "Let me be taken
under the protection of that glorious grace which is peculiar to
God's Israel." What David here prays for was performed to the Son
of David, our Lord Jesus, of whom it is said (Isa. xlix. 2) that God hid him in the
shadow of his hand, hid him as a polished shaft in his
quiver.

(2.) David further prays, "Lord, keep me
from the wicked, from men of the world," [1.] "From being, and
doing, like them, from walking in their counsel, and standing in
their way, and eating of their dainties." [2.] "From being
destroyed and run down by them. Let them not have their will
against me; let them not triumph over me."

2. That all the designs of his enemies to
bring his either into sin or into trouble might be defeated
(v. 13): "Arise,
O Lord! appear for me, disappoint him, and cast him down in his
own eyes by the disappointment." While Saul persecuted David, how
often did he miss his prey, when he thought he had him sure! And
how were Christ's enemies disappointed by his resurrection, who
thought they had gained their point when they had put him to
death!

II. What he pleads for the encouraging of
his own faith in these petitions, and his hope of speeding. He
pleads,

1. The malice and wickedness of his
enemies: "They are such as are not fit to be countenanced, such as,
if I be not delivered from them by the special care of God himself,
will be my ruin. Lord, see what wicked men those are that oppress
me, and waste me, and run me down." (1.) "They are very spiteful
and malicious; they are my deadly enemies, that thirst after
my blood, my heart's blood—enemies against the soul," so
the word is. David's enemies did what they could to drive him to
sin and drive him away from God; they bade him go serve other
gods (1 Sam. xxvi.
19), and therefore he had reason to pray against them.
Note, Those are our worst enemies, and we ought so to account them,
that are enemies to our souls. (2.) "They are very secure and
sensual, insolent and haughty (v. 10): They are enclosed in their
own fat, wrap themselves, hug themselves, in their own honour,
and power, and plenty, and then make light of God, and set his
judgments at defiance, Ps.
lxxiii. 7; Job xv. 27. They wallow in pleasure, and
promise themselves that to-morrow shall be as this day. And
therefore with their mouth they speak proudly, glorying in
themselves, blaspheming God, trampling upon his people, and
insulting them." See Rev. xiii. 5,
6. "Lord, are not such men as these fit to be mortified
and humbled, and made to know themselves? Will it not be for thy
glory to look upon these proud men and abase them?" (3.)
"They are restless and unwearied in their attempts against me: They
compass me about, v.
9. They have now in a manner gained their point; they
have surrounded us, they have compassed us in our steps, they track
us wherever we go, follow us as close as the hound does the hare,
and take all advantages against us, being both too many and too
quick for us. And yet they pretend to look another way, and set
their eyes bowing down to the earth, as if they were meditating,
retired into themselves, and thinking of something else;" or (as
some think), "They are watchful and intent upon it, to do us a
mischief; they are down-looked, and never let slip any opportunity
of compassing their design." (4.) "The ringleader of them (that was
Saul) is in a special manner bloody and barbarous, politic and
projecting (v. 12),
like a lion that lives by prey and is therefore greedy of
it." It is as much the meat and drink of a wicked man to do
mischief as it is of a good man to do good. He is like a young
lion lurking in secret places, disguising his cruel designs.
This is fitly applied to Saul, who sought David on the rocks of
the wild goats (1 Sam. xxiv.
2) and in the wilderness of Ziph (Ps. xxvi. 2), where lions used to lurk
for their prey.

2. The power God had over them, to control
and restrain them. He pleads, (1.) "Lord, they are thy
sword; and will any father suffer his sword to be drawn against
his own children?" As this is a reason why we should patiently bear
the injuries of men, that they are but the instruments of the
trouble (it comes originally from God, to whose will we are bound
to submit), so it is an encouragement to us to hope both that their
wrath shall praise him and that the remainder thereof he will
restrain, that they are God's sword, which he can manage as he
pleases, which cannot move without him, and which he will sheathe
when he has done his work with it. (2.) "They are thy hand,
by which thou dost chastise thy people and make them feel thy
displeasure." He therefore expects deliverance from God's hand
because from God's hand the trouble came. Una eademque manus
vulnus opemque tulit—The same hand wounds and heals. There is
no flying from God's hand but by flying to it. It is very
comfortable, when we are in fear of the power of man, to see it
dependent upon and in subjection to the power of God; see Isa. x. 6, 7, 15.

3. Their outward prosperity (v. 14): "Lord, appear against
them, for," (1.) "They are entirely devoted to the world, and care
not for thee and thy favour. They are men of the world,
actuated by the spirit of the world, walking according to the
course of this world, in love with the wealth and pleasure of this
world, eager in the pursuits of it (making them their business) and
at ease in the enjoyments of it—making them their bliss. They
have their portion in this life; they look upon the good
things of this world as the best things, and sufficient to make
them happy, and they choose them accordingly, place their felicity
in them, and aim at them as their chief good; they rest satisfied
with them, their souls take their ease in them, and they look no
further, nor are in any care to provide for another life. These
things are their consolation (Luke vi.
24), their good things (Luke xvi. 25), their reward (Matt. vi. 5), the penny they agreed
for, Matt. xx. 13. Now,
Lord, shall men of this character be supported and countenanced
against those who honour thee by preferring thy favour before all
the wealth in this world, and taking thee for their portion?"
Ps. xvi. 5. (2.) They have
abundance of the world. [1.] They have enlarged appetites, and a
great deal wherewith to satisfy them: Their bellies thou fillest
with thy hidden treasures. The things of this world are called
treasures, because they are so accounted; otherwise, to a
soul, and in comparison with eternal blessings, they are but trash.
They are hidden in the several parts of the creation, and hidden in
the sovereign disposals of Providence. They are God's hidden
treasures, for the earth is his and the fulness thereof, though the
men of the world think it is their own and forget God's property in
it. Those that fare deliciously every day have their bellies
filled with these hidden treasures; and they will but fill
the belly (1 Cor. vi.
13); they will not fill the soul; they are not bread for
that, nor can they satisfy, Isa. lv.
2. They are husks, and ashes, and wind; and yet most
men, having no care for their souls, but all for their bellies,
take up with them. [2.] They have numerous families, and a great
deal to leave to them: They are full of children, and yet
their pasture is not overstocked; they have enough for them all,
and leave the rest of their substance to their babes, to
their grand-children; and this is their heaven, it is their bliss,
it is their all. "Lord," said David, "deliver me from them;
let me not have my portion with them. Deliver me from their designs
against me; for, they having so much wealth and power, I am not
able to deal with them unless the Lord be on my side."

4. He pleads his own dependence upon God as
his portion and happiness. "They have their portion in this life,
but as for me (v.
15) I am none of them, I have but little of the world.
Nec habeo, nec careo, nec curo—I neither have, nor need, nor
care for it. It is the vision and fruition of God that I place
my happiness in; that is it I hope for, and comfort myself with the
hopes of, and thereby distinguish myself from those who have their
portion in this life." Beholding God's face with satisfaction may
be considered, (1.) As our duty and comfort in this world. We must
in righteousness (clothed with Christ's righteousness, having a
good heart and a good life) by faith behold God's face and set him
always before us, must entertain ourselves from day to day with the
contemplation of the beauty of the Lord; and, when we awake every
morning, we must be satisfied with his likeness set before us in
his word, and with his likeness stamped upon us by his renewing
grace. Our experience of God's favour to us, and our conformity to
him, should yield us more satisfaction than those have whose belly
is filled with the delights of sense. 2. As our recompence and
happiness in the other world. With the prospect of that he
concluded the foregoing psalm, and so this. That happiness is
prepared and designed only for the righteous that are justified and
sanctified. They shall be put in possession of it when they awake,
when the soul awakes, at death, out of its slumber in the body, and
when the body awakes, at the resurrection, out of its slumber in
the grave. That blessedness will consist in three things:—[1.]
The immediate vision of God and his glory: I shall behold thy
face, not, as in this world, through a glass darkly. The
knowledge of God will there be perfected and the enlarged intellect
filled with it. [2.] The participation of his likeness. Our
holiness will there be perfect. This results from the former
(1 John iii. 2): When he
shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
is. [3.] A complete and full satisfaction resulting from all
this: I shall be satisfied, abundantly satisfied with it.
There is no satisfaction for a soul but in God, and in his face and
likeness, his good-will towards us and his good work in us; and
even that satisfaction will not be perfect till we come to
heaven.